I'll preface this by saying that Tom Brady sits with Bobby Orr, Larry Bird, and Yaz on my list - higher, even, because of the longevity of his dominance and in a sport not built for that.
So, here goes: I agree with this article. Swap Harry and Brown, and we'd be wishing we had drafted Harry. Same with Samuel and others.
I wish they'd have gone for Sanders over Sanu - I guess they liked the cheaper $$ and the second year, but I always thought Sanders would thrive here.
Of course, that's assuming the Broncos would have traded him here, which I doubt, given the way the respective trades went down.
The part of that article with which I most agree: "Jakobi Meyers, who looked so confident in training camp and early in the season, has looked like a nervous wreck at times in recent weeks, dropping passes he was catching earlier. NFL players don’t scare easily, but maybe there is something a little intimidating about trying to please Brady."
This has not been the same Tom Brady - emotionally - since the AB disaster. Meyers is the best, but not the only example. A UDFA rookie, hoping to make it in the NFL suddenly got the yips, and from what I can see and hear, Brady did nothing to help him through it.
These are the little things that change with age. The pressure of the ticking clock, maybe the added pressure of facing Free Agency at 42, or of this being a swan-song season...it all adds up.
And of course, the elbow, and whatever lower body injury is there now, certainly hurts a lot. Again, age 42. The Pats certainly don't have a top-flight receiving corps and need to depend too much on rookies, but this isn't all on them.
It's on the scheming, on Brady (injury, attitude, age-decline?), on rotten luck (Gronk's timing, Develin's injury, Wynn's injury, Cajuste's injury, Froholdt's injury, Andrew's injury, even Johnson's injury, Gordon's tail-off, the AB debacle)...
I ain't giving up, by the way. The team that dominated Buffalo (even if the score didn't reflect it) can play with anybody any time, anywhere. have they got that team in them for four straight games?
Or is this perhaps the fitting bit of defying expectations to end the run?